Gear-operated pancake-type wrench for use in confined spaces



Feb. 24, 1953 F. J. DE NOTE GEAR-OPERATED PANCAKE-TYPE WRENCH FOR USE IN CONFINED SPACES 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Filed Jan. 6, 1951 NWS.

Feb. 24, 1953 F. J. DE NOTE 2,629,278

GEAR-OPERATED PANcAKrs-TYPE WRENCH FOR usE 1N CQNFINED sPAcEs Filed Jan. e, 1951 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 1N VEN TOR.

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Patented Feb. 24, 1953 GEAR- OPERATED PANoAKE-TYPE WRENCH FOR USE IN CONFINED SPACES Frank J. De Note, Forestville, Conn., assigner to The Bristol Machine Tool Company, Inc., Forestville, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application January 6, 1951, Serial No. 204,773

(Cl. 81-57l 1 Claim. l

This invention relates to automatic wrenches, and is more particularly directed to improvements in power driven socket wrenches for use in tightening or loosening nuts situated in places that are either inaccessible, or dicult to reach with ordinary Wrench tools.

One object of this invention is to provide a power driven socket wrench having an angularly off-set nut-engaging member which is substantially free from interfering mechanisms so that it may be used in uniformly tightening or loosening nuts or vbolts about which there is a minimum of clearance from surrounding structures.

`Another object of this invention is to provide `a device of the character described which has an olf-set `nut-engaging `member at the remote end of an elongated barrel housing `so that the wrench `may be used to operate on nuts located in deep, coniined recesses, such fas `are encountered in the assembly of cylinder heads in radial aircraft engines.

A further object is to provide a device of the above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to manipulate, compact, and very efcient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in view there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawing one form in which the invention may conveniently be embodied in practice.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 shows in two parts, the invention as applied to a motor-driven, trigger-actuated power tool, and further illustrates its adaptability for operation on a nut in the closely conlined space between two cylinders of a radial aircraft engine, as represented by the dashed lines.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the ofi-set nut-engaging drive mechanism, partly in section, taken along the broken line 2-2 of Fig. i, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the off-set nut-engaging drive mechanism taken along the line 4--4 of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a side view of the hexagonally rounded end of the drive shaft.

Fig. 6 is an end View of the same.

Fig. '7 is a side view, partly in section, of the shaft barrel housing, showing the lower sleeve bearing in place therein, and further showing how the end of the barrel is nxed in angular relationship to the rear cover of the socket drive mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral It) indicates generally a trigger-actuated tool embodying the invention.

The tool l0 includes an air-driven slip clutch C having a rotative drive member Il provided with an hexagonal central socket l la within which is disposed the hexagonal vend portion l2 of an elongated drive shaft i3. The drive shaft i3 is rotatably disposed within .an .elongated barrel housing i4, for which purpose said barrel housing has a pair of vsleeve bearings I5 and it, one disposed within either end thereof. The barrel housing It 'is held in fixed .aligned relationship to the casing of the tool le, by va split tubular housing member V, tightly `secured in place by means of a clamping screw iii within one side thereof..

The outer lower end of the elongated drive shaft i3 is provided with a hexagonal oval-shaped pointed head I9, adapted t0 be received within a hexagonal central opening 20 in an externally toothed drive gear 2|, driven by said drive shaft I3.

The drive gear 2l is provided with an annular shoulder 22 of reduced diameter, rotatably seated within a replaceable bushing 3-5 located at the inner end of a gear housing body 23, the latter being provided with a centrally located stepped pin 24 on which is rotatably disposed an idler gear 25, in meshing engagement with the drive gear 2l. At the outer end of the gear housing` body 23, there is rotatably disposed an externally toothed wrench socket 2B, having a plurality of internal nut engaging facesv 2?. The wrench socket 26 is also provided with an annular shoulder 28, of reduced diameter, embraced by the gear housing body 23, the outer end of said gear housing body 23 comprising merely a thin arcuate band '29. The arcuate band 29 could form part of a replaceable ring 31 nxed in the housing body 23 as by spot welding 38.

The outer end of the elongated barrel housing I4 has a rear cover member 30 xed to it, as by a circumferential weld 3l, and disposed in inclined relationship thereto. The rear cover member 36 is detachably fixed to the gear housing body 23 as by means of a pair of machine screws 32.

The front cover member 33 is similarly detach-- ably fixed to the gear housing body 23 by a pair of machine screws 34, the purpose of said front cover member being to retain the idler gear 25 and the externally toothed socket 2t in operating position within the housing body 23. The front Vaezaa'rs Operation The operation of the improved socket wrench can readily be understood by referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing. Thus it will be seen that the toothed wrench socket 26, being unincumbered at the outer end of the gear housing body 23, may readily be placed over a nut or bolt to be turned. The fact that the housing portion holding the socket at its outer end consists merely of the thin band 29 of the ring 3T allows the improved tool to be used in cases where the nut to be operated upon is closely adjacent a side Wall.

When the trigger T is pressed, the clutch C Y will operate to continuously rotate the drive shaft I3 until the nut is tightened to a predeter mined torque, after which the clutch C will slip and prevent damage to the parts. The tool will then be removed from the nut and applied to the next nut on the engine cylinder. To remove the nut, the drive shaft I3 will be operated in the reverse direction, under the control of a rotary reversing switch knob S.

Although the particular embodiment herein described shows the wrench socket 25 disposed at a certain angle With respect to the elongated barrel housing I4, it is to be understood that this angle may be varied considerably, `within theA spirit and scope of the invention, to suit the particularrjob to be done.

One advantage of the improved wrench herein disclosed is that it is capable of operating on nuts 1.

or bolts in small restricted areas.

Another advantage is that the improved tool embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the speciiic disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claim.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

In an offset socket wrench, a substantially rectangular, pancake-type housing open at one end and having rotatably mounted therein in meshing engagement with each other a wrench socket gear whose periphery extends through the open end of the housing, a driver gear, and an intermediate idler gear, the outer periphery 01"' the wrench socket gear having a concentric circular recess disposed in the bottom portion thereof, a thin metal band of substantially the thickness of the teeth of the wrench socket gear mounted in said circular recess, and constituting the sole closure means for the open end of the housing, thereby adapting the wrench to use on nuts or bolts located in very restricted areas.

FRANK J. DE NOTE.

REFERENCES CITED rEhe following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,469,662 Leopold Oct. 2, 1923 1,799,483 Webster Apr, 7, 1931 2,194,062 Albertson et al. Mar. 19 1940 2,235,374 Kellogg Mar. 18, 1941 2,482,387 Veneman Sept. 20, 1949 2,532,027 Y Maddox Nov. 23, 1950 

